Microsoft and Asus have built a laptop with Kinect motion-sensing technology on board.
Two prototype machines were recently seen, but not used, by The Daily, the website says. The two notebook PCs feature extra, Kinect-oriented distance sensors built into their screen bezels alongside their regular webcams.
Microsoft is keen to …

Distance

Not sure how this would work - I guess they'd have to scale down the technology considerably.

After trying Kinect at other people's houses, and barely being able to get it to register us by standing right at the back of the room, I concluded that my house is just too small for it. I think it's designed for massive empty American living rooms, like in the adverts, not for a standard British room.

Hmmm, probably more interested in some decent built in gesture based controls for my laptop than I am about leaping around the front room in front of a glowing monolith of a TV.......which is something that does not interest me even slightly.

Makes sense to me as touchpads are rubbish, touchscreens are still overpriced and plugging in a mouse (my usual option) is a bit messy.

More reasons not to get on the tube

Asus schmooosh

So what?

On one hand we have Asus launching Tegra based Android wonder slabs and on the other Intel engined Windows ultrabooks. The former immediately became a myth akin to unicorns & blue Sundays and the latter are priced to sell more MacBook Airs.

Announcements, launches and such marketing piffles are normally followed by manufacturing & logistics execution providing punters the ability to purchase (and the company to make money).

As I write, I can't even recall what this article was about as it was so inconsequential to real life!

This isn't XBOX version...

it's been tweaked work at smaller distances. Your FAIL is a FAIL : D

As a 3D CAD user, this might have potential for 1, scanning 3D objects, and 2, maybe developing a 3D gesture-based 'digital clay' interface for CAD software - using my hands, not my limbs. Anything that allows you to swap away from one input device to another can only reduce (the chance of) RSI.

Hell, it would stimulate the 'little grey cells' if the designer were able to stand up and pace about whilst designing. ( see recent studies that suggest foreign languages are learnt quicker if the student is moving around )

We've already seen software that allows Solidworks to be manipulated with an XBOX 360 controller.

However, Kinect would be more flexible in its current stand-alone form.

I fail to understand why MS is not pushing head tracking hard - it's an obvious use of the technology and one that can easily be added to existing games. If they built it into BF3 or COD, I reckon Kinects would fly off the shelves. It's an easy in to the PC market as well, where gamers are less likely to buy a kinect as if they want to play a kinect style game they would use a console.

Admittedly, for full support in multiplayer (ie you can see other players' heads look around) you need extra bandwidth, but you don't have to support that.

3d Video Conferences?

One obvious application would be to improve video conferencing, by isolating the person in front of the camera from the background (trivial once you have depth information), and assemble a virtual meeting room with several participants.

Why knock something you've not even tried?

If they can get the kinect experience to work but at much closer distances then I can think of many times that this could be a handy interface even on a laptop. I often listen to music or play video on my laptop, a quick wave to skip/pause/mute would be quite cool IMHO.

"It looks like you're masturbating.

If it worked reliably at the distance of the normal laptop touchpad I would love it. A quick gesture for say a page down when reading to save me moving my hand all the way to the right of the keyboard to find the Page Down button would be welcome but I'm not sure of how much of a price premium I would be willing to pay.

Using your "mug" to login

They have facial recognition in Xbox Live, so it may be a move to have that style of technology built into Windows 8 security model. Kinect means it wont be fooled by a cardboard cutout, but a rubber mask or prosthetic makeup may dupe it.